06 March 2011

First Pages

I'm doing a workshop in May in which I'll critique first pages of novels (well, 2 pages) and dispensing publishing advice (that one cracks me up). I am fairly capable at critting and judging a work by the first page or two though, from my time here reading slush and also playing The Game, plus just reading 5 years worth of critiques for my partners, too.

I've been asked what I can find out about a story from the first page. For the purposes of our game here I call that 250 words (granted, longer than a first page but generally about how long I can be guaranteed to read before giving up). I actually expect a LOT out of that first page.

I expect these items, in order of importance though not necessarily appearance:

Who is my hero/ine? For short stories, I really want to know who I'm banking on. Think of it this way: I'm new to your world and I need a guide to show me around. I'm not much for a prologue featuring the antagonist in short fiction, though of course it can work. (Generally I prefer single POVs in short fiction, and no prologues or epilogues.) No need to be coy, Roy, use actual names for your characters. And I daresay you won't see a story in Electric Spec that starts with the word "It." (Now of course someone will run out and find one that did!) A safe bet is to get your character doing something in the first lines, or at least the first paragraph. Not a rule by any means, but a reliable technique. Bonus points for showing me it's a protag I will care about or am happy to depend on, either cuz s/he's sympathetic, empathetic, or too cool for school.

I think so. I think most readers no longer read complete news stories or even blog posts unless they're super interested. Letting the reader know if it's something they're interested in does them a favor.

But I'm not trying to be supercilious about it, either. These are guidelines for me, as an editor and often as a reader and a writer, but I don't pretend that every single reader requires these things. That said, it certainly doesn't HURT a story to have them in there.